Short Stories Occult

The piano was a gift, a symbol of enduring love, but from the moment she began playing it, Melody's nights became filled with terrifying visions. Visions of an ancient city in ruins where the streets run red with blood and winged creatures watch lustfully from high above. Visions of murder, betrayal, and madness. She knows that her night terrors are inextricably entangled with the piano and its troubling history, but she must keep playing...searching for that one melody that will quiet the haunting voice that threatens her very sanity.

From astronauts in deep space to the ghosts of the Civil War, New York Times best-selling author Alethea Kontis creates worlds of wonder and delight, of weirdness and despair, of whimsy and darkness. Here are 20 stories and poems that will transport you to the magical dangerous worlds you've always known should exist, but have never quite been able to find.

"The Vampires" is a collection of classic tales about those aristocratic predators who haunt dreams and lust for blood from beyond the grave.

"The Playground": Jack Francis has lost his zest for life. Retirement has left him feeling old, and divorce has left him feeling useless, until one day, he witnesses something extraordinary. "The Crack in the Wall": The old stone wall that runs the length of Hendersonville Road in Milner's Hollow has a strange crack in it. On a beautiful summer's day, two little girls discover the terrifying truth about that crack. "Bossman": Disenchanted with his dead-end job, Eric Pendergrass discovers a strange way to make his boss pay.

The Black Goat is a short story that takes on a contemporary approach of the legend of Van Hunks and the devil. Jan van Hunks is down and out, a functioning alcoholic who is battling a divorce from his wife. One wintry night, he decides to escape the clutches of his studio apartment in the heart of Cape Town and venture out to find the darkest bar he can. He meets a mysterious character along the way who advises him against his journey.

This is the first released collection of original short stories by R. Paul Matty. The author's engaging style draws the reader into each detail of actual events in the drama of nature while uniquely creating a greater respect and appreciation for all things wild, inevitably intertwined with changing human culture.

The workings of heaven are shrouded in mystery and myth, leaving us to only theorize as to what awaits us when we pass. There are those among us, however, that are special cases. These are good people who have committed a horrendous crime, such as murder. What makes their cases special, however, is the fact that by committing these egregious acts, one could argue that they have made the world a better place.

Jack Nightingale - lives in the shadows, fights in the dark. Ex-cop turned private eye Jack Nightingale is used to dealing with tricky situations. He's faced down the powers of hell a couple of times, too. In this new short story, he's called in to help a policeman who's lying at death's door. The doctors can't work out what's wrong. But the dying man's colleagues swear blind that he was cursed by a gypsy during the Dale Farm clearance. And Nightingale could be his only hope.

Ghosts of the past and fairies of the future. Mythical creatures and magic gone awry.

From the crash of the Hindenburg to magic-crazed visions of tomorrow, wonder runs just under the surface. Six fantasy shorts from author Voss Foster explore just how deep that magic runs--and how easily it can be exposed.

Is there a connection between the Sasquatch and UFOs? The answer is yes. The government knows this, but they're not talking. Barbara and Carl live on a horse ranch just outside of Tyler, Texas, and their life, and belief system, received an inconvenient overhaul after they witnessed a UFO land in the forest nearby. Carl went to investigate and to his surprise, out walked two tall, hairy "creatures" that had a message for mankind.

This anthology details encounters with ghosts, evil spirits, dark entities, malicious beings, and demonic encounters that’ll send a chill of terror tickling up your spine. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. There’s almost certainly a ghost or two peeking over your shoulder. These true paranormal encounters are unlike any you’ve heard before. And, if you don’t believe, just know that you don’t have to believe in something for it to exist.

Little did he know his lovely misty city Saturday morning, was about to become a nightmare.... The young man dashed to the hall leading out to 42nd street, then cut a sharp right and jogged down and up the ramp past the Oyster Bar...the mist swirled after him, going over the bridge overpass, misting walkers in its path, those who had umbrellas opened them...it followed him as he pushed through the heaver doors to gain access to the marble stairs up to the offices on floors above. The thing swirled up the stairs after him like an amorphous polar bear...

The Containment Bureau has housed paranormal objects for hundreds of years. A facility buried beneath the mountains, the Bureau has studied and maintained Relics with great efficiency. But when Deacon receives a late-night phone call from his sister that the Bureau has been breached, he knows he has to investigate. Now, the Relics are out of containment - some are eccentric, most are dangerous. Deacon must navigate a labyrinthine facility, dodging murderous Relics, hoping that he can find his sister, and understand what happened in The Containment Bureau.

When an author helps the police to identify symbols carved into two dead bodies, he becomes the focus of a murderous cult. He has to become the hunter to survive.

Behind each door lies something strange and terrifying. Here, the normal is made nightmarish, from howls of were-foxes to satanic car-boot sales. Creepy, terrifying and witty by turn, Silverweed Road deals in love, loss, isolation, loneliness, obsession, greed and revenge. As the screw turns with each story, Crook creates a world of pure imagination, constantly surprising, in a setting that is instantly recognisable but other-worldly at the same time.

Two adventurers set out on a long mountainous hike into a remote cave with a sinister history. Listening to The Cave will take you from excitement to fear. Each emotion the same physiologically and drastically different psychologically.

Supernatural detective Jack Nightingale is called in to investigate a case of stigmata. A young girl is bleeding from her hands and feet and claims to be talking to the Virgin Mary. But Nightingale soon realises that all is not as it seems - and the girl is in mortal danger.

Join ghost investigator DeDe Rose as she journeys through the world of the paranormal with six bizarre and scary stories taking place in Pennsylvania. Each creepy story has an element of truth to rock your disbelief in things that go bump in the night. A special author note for each tale gives you the scoop. Find out about a werewolf legion in Strasburg and visit a haunted book store in Phoenixville.

You feed your fish daily. You love them, one and all, and met most first as eggs. You provide dutifully for their care, minding the water temperature, the pH, the pump. Some fish are destined to remain small, whereas others grow naturally larger. These larger ones need their own space - more room to swim, spawn, grow - because their pond is small and thick with other, comparatively diminutive fish.

In these two "inspired by actual accounts" but still entirely fictional tales, a pair of challengers of the unknown go one on one with two of the world's most famous mysterious legends. In "Beneath Still Waters", a lake-dwelling giant creature draws a devoted paranormal investigator into a staggering encounter that goes far beyond a blurry photo of something with a long neck and humps passing by a Loch Ness excursion boat.